Adams sees crucial real estate role for UFB. Yeah, nah

This from the NZ Herald:

A new website which reveals the properties with the best access to ultra-fast broadband is likely to be a crucial tool in the real estate market, Communications Minister Amy Adams says.

The minister believed it was likely to have a strong influence on the residential property market.

"I often tell the story of a 70-year-old constituent in my area who was selling his house ... and he said to his real estate agent, 'Don't show me anything that doesn't have fibre'. Really, it has become a very critical part of the real estate market incredibly quickly," she said.

As someone who believes in the economic and social arguments behind the Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) rollout, I want that to be true

But it's just not.

Here's my story: We've done a lot of house-hunting recently, and agents never bring up broadband. When prompted, one knew a home was in a UFB area but had no idea about connection issues or bandwidth (which, when I checked with Chorus, was brilliant 200Mbit/s).

And agents pitching to sell our current house have never asked about broadband. People do care about the speed of broadband but from agents' focus it's just not a decisive buying factor.

Why not? In part because although the UFB rollout is only around 26% complete in Auckland (it's halfway through nationwide), it's due to complete in four years' time so the advantage of a property with UFB is fleeting.

And, more, ISPs, UFB companies and the government have done" sweet FA" to promote the UFB. In fact the government has gone in the opposite direction by leaning on Chorus to implement a cut-back programme which, among other things, chopped most of its advertising budget.

Once the Great New Zealand Public finally clocks to the benefits of fibre, those who've been through the hassle of a UFB install will find it adds value to their home. For now, nope.

National Broadband Map updated
The occasion for Ms Adams' comments was an update of the National Broadband Map — an interactive online map, created by InternetNZ subsidiary NZRS, that shows what type of fast internet connections are available in your area. It lets you search for connectivity options by street address, which is nifty.

The Broadband Map is not perfect. It will tell you what broadband options are available for your location, though then it's up to you to discover which retail ISPs are serving up those options*, and at what price. And there are a few gaps to be filled in. 4G cellular and cable options have yet to be added and the answer to the question "I know it's coming but when will the UFB or RBI reach my home?" is often frustratingly vague (though with Chorus' having a very broad time line for outstanding areas, it's a case of garbage in, garbage out). Still, a useful resource.

*A few ISPs allowed their data to be shared in more detail. That data can be viewed at data.nzrs.net.nz

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